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Oliver Bonk is no longer the only London Knight in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.
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Forward Denver Barkey will head to Vancouver, too, as an injury replacement for the annual highly NHL-scouted game Wednesday at the Langley Event Centre. He’ll fill in for Kelowna Rockets forward Andrew Cristall on Team Red and compete against Bonk in the contest.
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“It was exciting news when I first got the call,” the Newmarket 17-year-old said. “Super cool to see that my hard work has paid off. It should be a great experience and I am looking forward to it.”
Barkey is North America’s 84th-ranked skater, according to the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s latest prospects list. The five-foot-nine, 154-pounder has 11 goals, 37 points and a plus-10 rating in 41 games for the OHL’s Midwest Division-leading Knights.
He was London’s first pick, 16th overall, in the 2021 OHL draft and has proven a tenacious penalty killer and reliable faceoff man in two seasons with the club.
Like potential NHL first-round defenseman Bonk, Barkey is expected to miss the Knights game Thursday in Peterborough. The league forbids players to appear in games on four consecutive days and the Knights play Friday in Ottawa and Saturday in Kingston.